Thanks to legislative framework in place and ESCO companies bringing to the region energy services expertise from more developed markets, South-east Europe is finally ready to improve its energy efficiency. The potential is huge, both in private and public sector, according to Ankica Barbulov, director of GGE ESCO in a video interview for Balkan Green Energy News.

The company Barbulov is managing in Serbia is a part of GGE d.o.o., one of the leading energy services companies in the region. GGE started its operations in Slovenia several years ago. Its regional footprint has expanded in the meantime to Croatia, Serbia and lately Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Bulgaria, where GGE’s teams of experts help local clients implement energy efficiency measures, at the same time providing financing for the projects.

According to Barbulov, countries in the SEE region spend 4,5 to 5 times more energy per GDP dollar than the most developed countries in the EU and 2,5 times more than the EU average. In Serbia energy efficiency can be improved by 40 or even 50 percent.

Private sector facilities with the biggest potential for energy efficiency improvements are big power consumers – hotels, spas, large shopping malls, administrative buildings and industry. In the public sector, the biggest potential is in the reconstruction of heating systems, replacement of old boilers that predominantly use fossil fuel with new ones using renewable energy sources. Some other up-to-date technologies, such as heat pumps, solar power etc., can be also applied. There is also a big potential for energy savings through modernization of public lighting systems where energy savings range from 65 to 75 percent annually in kilowatt-hours.